HAGEL, MONIZ SEEK TO ASSURE FEINSTEIN OVER B61 REFURBISHMENT

The Obama Administration will pursue retirement of the B83 nuclear gravity bomb once the current B61 life extension program is completed, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) earlier this month. Feinstein has been an outspoken skeptic of the Administration’s plans to refurbish the B61, a plan that it says will allow for future stockpile reductions by combining four B61 variants into one new refurbished bomb. In their Nov. 6 letter, which was obtained by NW&M Monitor, Hagel and Moniz noted that Feinstein suggested during a meeting with Liz Sherwood-Randall of the National Security Staff that she would support the B61 LEP if it led to stockpile cuts and the retirement of the B83 and sought to assure Feinstein that would take place. “Having a single B61 variant will enable a reduction in the number of deployed and non-deployed air-delivered nuclear gravity weapons in the stockpile, while increasing the safety and security of this aging system,” Hagel and Moniz wrote. “Additionally, by balancing reduced yield with improved accuracy, this LEP would allow us to pursue retirement of the B61-11, and the B83 gravity bomb, once confidence in the B61-12 stockpile is gained, as provided in the FY 2014 National Nuclear Security Administration Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.”